Brad Pitt to play car guy Steve McQueen?

May 9, 12:09 PMClassic Autos ExaminerJim Cherry

Previous Next

7 comments Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Classic Autos Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Steve McQueen lived his role in Le Mans to the hilt in order to ensure the film's authenticity.

Brad Pitt is about to sign on to play Steve McQueen in a bio pic. Producers Michael Cerenzie and Christine Peters have the rights to a recent biography 'Steve McQueen: Portrait of an American Rebel." They plan to begin shooting late this year. The casting might work, Pitt resembles McQueen and shares the late actor's love of beautiful women, fast cars, and motorcycles.

Actor Steve McQueen, known as “the king of cool,”  loved nothing better than zipping around the curves of L.A.’s famed Mulholland Drive in his ’57 Porsche Speedster. It would be hard to argue with the thrill of that air-cooled motor throbbing just inches behind your back as the glued-to-the-road Speedster’s sleek soap-dish body snaked through the cool California night.

McQueen owned many cars, most of which were either classics then or have become so in the ensuing decades. He was a true auto devotee who drove fast cars, admired them for their engineering, and collected them as design objects.

A 1948 MG TC Roadster was one of Steve McQueen’s first cars. MG TCs are not known for their creature comforts. Hard riding and lacking any meaningful weather protection, the cycle-fendered cars nonetheless delivered the pure thrill of driving and helped kick-start America’s post war sports car craze. Barely able to squeeze out 54 horsepower, the TC’s little four-cylinder motor could propel the roadster to 80 m.p.h.

Steve McQueen had his Jaguar XKSS repainted in British Racing Green

McQueen's 1956 Jaguar XKSS was a streetable version of Jaguar’s legendary “D-Type” race car, the XKSS is a true rarity, as only 16 were built. McQueen’s car was built white with a red interior but he had it changed to traditional British Racing Green with black leather interior. He also had famed pin-striper Von Dutch add a customized glove box door. McQueen sold the car, then bought it back. He held on to it until his death in 1980.

The flashy Harley Earl styled 1957 Chevrolet Bel-Air Fuel-Injected Convertible offered the new very progressive option of fuel-injection. Standard in cars now, fuel injection was unheard of in a mass market car at the time. It was a scorching hot set-up that delivered the magic number of one horsepower per cubic inch of engine displacement--the famed Chevy 283 was pumping out 283 h.p. for the first time. McQueen admired the Bel-Air’s engineering excellence and red hot performance.

McQueen won the very first race he entered in his life driving a 1957 Porsche Speedster--the same beloved roadster that he zipped around in atop the Hollywood Hills. Porsche stripped out all the extra weight from its Speedster by getting rid of the car’s creature comforts. Roll-up windows were replaced by removable side curtains and the windshield was lowered to race car height for lower wind resistance. Today Speedsters are highly sought after and fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars at collector auctions.

McQueen had his Mini Cooper mildly customized.

Steve McQueen had his 1961 Austin Mini Cooper S customized by Lee Brown. The pocket hot rod was custom-painted his favorite metallic brown, a sunroof was installed, the radio antenna was moved to the rear fender, a fog light was mounted on its front bumper and a custom interior was mounted. McQueen used to enjoy bopping around Hollywood in the micro car, which was extremely rare at the time, as very few were imported. McQueen’s Mini still survives in original, unrestored condition.

McQueen's Ferrari on the block at Christie's, about to bring in an extra million dollars.

Steve McQueen ordered his 1963 Ferrari 250GT Berlinetta Lusso painted in a special metallic brown with beige leather interior—a stunning combination on this gorgeous prime-period Ferrari. But McQueen’s Ferrari was no garage beauty queen—he drove it hard as he did all his cars, enjoying them for what they were built to do. The Lussso, one of 350 built, is not one of the better known Ferraris but McQueens’ restored example sold for $2.3 million at Christie’s in 2007—a cool million dollars over pre-sale estimates.

Glimpsed in two scenes from McQueen’s 1971 Le Mans movie, his 1969 Porsche, 911S Coupe was painted a conservative metallic gray. Perhaps he’d tired of all the speeding tickets he was piling up and wanted a low profile. The air-cooled “flat-six’ pancake engine that became a signature feature of 911s was introduced in 1963, the car’s first year. Porsche’s 911 model is still in production, but they’ve been water-cooled since 1998. One of the best-known sports cars of all time, the 911 was one of McQueen’s all time favorite cars to drive.

McQueen combined his acting career with his love of cars when he made Bullitt in 1968 and Le Mans in 1971.

Burning rubber in the legendary chase scene from Bullitt.

Porsche 917 starred in Le Mans (1971)

Le Mans is respected as delivering an almost documentary realistic look at this one-of-a-kind 24 hour race.

Bullitt featured what many consider to be the best car chase scene ever filmed. McQueen's Mustang became so legendary, Ford Motor Company made special commemorative edition Bullitt Mustangs.

 Check out the trailer for Bullitt (1968)

Whether Brad Pitt portrays Steve McQueen or not, the "king of cool" was larger than life; any bio-pic should make an entertaining movie.

For more info: check out Steve McQueen's official website.